Historical Facts
The Magic: The Gathering game was created by a mathematician-turned-game designer – Richard Garfield. Garfield began designing games at the age of 15 and was a math professor at Whitman College in Walla Walla, Washington when the Magic game was first released.
The Magic game made its debut at the GenCon game fair in August 1993.
Creator Richard Garfield called his game “Mana Flash!” and publisher Wizards of the Coast renamed it to Magic: The Gathering.
The first Magic game released by Wizards of the Coast was referred to as “Alpha.”
Wizards of the Coast has released more than 6,000 different Magic cards. Today there are several billion Magic cards in circulation across the world.
Magic Globally
There are more than six million Magic players in over 75 countries.
he Magic game is currently available in nine languages, including Chinese (simplified), English, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Spanish, Portuguese and Korean.
Players from 52 countries participated in the 2003 Magic World Championship, with Daniel Zink of Germany finishing in the top spot. The 2004 Magic World Championship takes place September 1-5 in San Francisco.
Magic Tournaments
Official Magic tournaments have been hosted by all seven continents – Africa, Asia, Australia, Europe, North America, South America and even Antarctica, where a U.S. Army base hosted a Magic tournament.
The largest-ever Magic tournament involved more than 38,000 players playing simultaneously at multiple locations worldwide in the Magic 10th Anniversary Global Celebration (July 2003).
The best Magic players in the world compete on the Magic: The Gathering Pro Tour™. Each year, the Magic Pro Tour awards more than $1 million in prize money.
Aspiring Pro Tour players 15 years and younger can compete in the Magic: The Gathering Junior Super Series, which awards $250,000 in college scholarship money in the U.S. each year.
From Friday Night Magic™ tournaments at local retailers to the Junior Super Series, Pro Tour and Magic World Championship, there are more than 137,000 officially sanctioned Magic events held each year.
Magic on the Web
Wizards of the Coast’s Magic web sites attract more than 18 million visitors annually, with about half of the visitors coming from the U.S. and half representing countries outside of the U.S.
The official Magic web site is www.magicthegathering.com.
Magic Online
There are more than 150,000 registered Magic Online players, with the average player spending 30-60 minutes per online session and playing 1.4 games a day.
Magic Online runs approximately 900,000 matches monthly.
Industry Recognition
Magic ranks among the Toy Industry Association’s “Top-100 Games of All Time.”
Games Magazine named Magic: The Gathering to its “Hall of Fame” in 2003, coinciding with the game’s 10th anniversary.
The Magic game is the basis for Wizards of the Coast’s exclusive patent on the play mechanic of trading card games. Many other trading card games are modeled after Magic game play.
